Intangible resources have raised the interests of scholars from different research areas due
to their importance as crucial factors for firm performance; yet, contributions to this field still
lack a theoretical framework. This research analyses the state-of-the-art results reached in the
literature concerning intangibles, their main features and evaluation problems and models. In
search for a possible theoretical framework, the research draws a kind of indirect analysis of
intangibles through the theories of the firm, their critic and developments. The heterodox
approaches of the evolutionary theory and resource-based view are indicated as possible
frameworks. Based on this theoretical analysis, organization capital (OC) is identified, for its
features, as the most important intangible for firm performance.
Empirical studies on the relationship intangibles-firm performance have been sporadic and have
failed to reach firm conclusions with respect to OC; in the attempt to fill this gap, the effect of OC
is tested on a large sample of European firms using the Compustat Global database. OC is
proxied by capitalizing an income statement item (Selling, General and Administrative expenses)
that includes expenses linked to information technology, business process design, reputation
enhancement and employee training. This measure of OC is employed in a cross-sectional
estimation of a firm level production function - modeled with different functional specifications
(Cobb-Douglas and Translog) - that measures OC contribution to firm output and profitability.
Results are robust and confirm the importance of OC for firm performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unibo.it/oai:amsdottorato.cib.unibo.it:763 |
| Date | 26 June 2008 |
| Creators | Tronconi, Claudia <1979> |
| Contributors | Montresor, Sandro |
| Publisher | Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna |
| Source Sets | Università di Bologna |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Thesis, PeerReviewed |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds